Lockheed Martin successfully integrated and flight tested seven Open Mission Systems (OMS) payloads in a span of less than three months into a U-2 Dragon Lady , marking the corporation’s sixth demonstration flight in support of the U.S. Air Force’s OMS vision.
“This demonstration focused on communications relay capabilities and dynamic weapon retargeting within an OMS integration methodology,” said John Clark , director of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs (the Skunk Works). “This demonstration showed our ability to integrate mission capability rapidly and affordably while highlighting how the OMS standard provides the Air Force a mechanism to own the technical baseline for their future systems.”
This demonstration focused on communications relay capabilities, dynamic weapon retargeting and methodology. Multiple radios and associated waveforms were integrated with the U-2, which served as a communications gateway between an F-22, F-18s and a Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) surrogate platform. Furthermore, fifth and fourth generation fighter data and U-2 onboard Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare systems data were relayed to both a Rover ground terminal and the Common Mission Control Center, allowing the LRASM surrogate to be dynamically retargeted in midflight.
Additionally, the U.S. Air Force’s 76th Software Maintenance Group developed and flight tested a software application designed to operate in the Skunk Works mission management software suite.
This flight test is part of a series of tests that demonstrate the power of the Lockheed Martin Open Architecture approach combined with the Air Force OMS standards. The stability of the entire OMS mission package was proven, as no software or subsystem resets were required during the flight.
The flight’s success is a significant step toward risk reduction for future system-of-systems hardware and software developed to follow OMS standards.
